Fair For Canada campaign paints Verizon as the greedy incumbent

“It makes me angry that the government is selling us out.” – Mike from Bell.

That sentence, along with many others, ring out emotionally and truthfully in a video designed to evoke sympathy for the incumbent carriers, Rogers, Telus and Bell, in the wake of what appears to be an almost certain entry into the Canadian telecom market by Verizon.

Rogers, Bell and TELUS have launched a PR campaign titled Fair For Canada that aims to encourage Canadians to voice discontent about the government’s move to treat Verizon as a new entrant if the US telco decides to purchase Wind, Mobilicity or both. A standing offer of $700 million is believed to be on the table for Wind, though it’s uncertain whether, in light of new information by Rogers partner Birch Hill Equity Partners, it will go through.

Fundamentally, though, the incumbent carriers appear to want its customers to believe that Verizon would crash into the market like an angry bull, focusing its hoarded two blocks of 700Mhz spectrum in each region on urban areas, avoid hiring employees in Canada, or maintaining as lean a business as possible, generally disrupting the functioning industry that we, as citizens and customers, take for granted.

None of the catastrophic language used in the campaign is likely going to transpire exactly as predicted, but neither will Verizon’s entry into the Canadian market bring down prices overnight. The campaign exists because the incumbents have to come out against Verizon’s seemingly-unfair advantage, which in itself is a sort of loophole left open by the government in trying to ensure a fourth player in each market.

Check out the campaign, and the accompanying video, over at Fair For Canada.

RandomHero

Fair For Canada (read: Fair For Us).

Max Fireman

Fukc ROBELLUS! BRING ON VERIZON!

Goran Mihajlović

Verizon is the American version of Rogers. Some people are bringing up AT&T and those guys are the American Bell.

I would only support Verizon coming in buying a new entrant if Verizon Canada got the same kind of autonomy that T Mobile in the US enjoys, and attempts to strongly undercut the other American incumbents. Otherwise? Just let Tony Lacavera keep Wind, get the spectrum it needs, and expand.

I hate these commercials with a passion. Considering how much outsourcing the Big 3 have been doing, the fact that LTE is centred around cities (logical, but hypocritical for claiming it’s terrible Verizon would focus on cities only), that I get 14-15mbps on Koodo in Toronto on their hspa network, but only 1-4mbps in towns, way to be open liars. Also, it wasn’t until the 80’s that shared phone lines finally disappeared in rural Canada. And tell me Bell, why is it that successive Canadian governments had to spend well over one billion dollars to bring hi speed internet to most of rural Canada, and not you? Hey Rogers, why do you still have significant missing coverage in eastern Quebec (ex. Gaspe), meaning people have to go with Telus or Bell? How about any place besides the Winnipeg-Brando corridor in Manitoba? Going beyond the Trans-Canada in northern Ontario? Yes, tell me more about how you know Verizon will not cover all Canadians by your own experience of screwing non-urban Canada.

NotYouToo

Everytime I see or hear of the their employee testimonials, all I hear is “Please, please, my boss says Verizon is going to fire me, please save my job! I don’t wanna go back to mopping floors at McDonalds. You gotta save the carriers to save my job. If they have to compete, I am screwed”

wildspin

Rebellus were laying off Canadian staff and exporting their jobs for many years. When were those people’s voice heard?

Martini

My brother worked for Bell for many years, and called Bell’s plan to “bring jobs back” utter BS. They’re currently building call centers in French-speaking parts of Africa to outsource French customer service calls.

Accophox

Screw the consumer, we want all the money.

Shane Sparky

Nice to see the big 3 afraid of some real competition… they never made a stink when Wind came to Canada (owned foreign) and they built their own towers (and yes piggybacking on other towers when out of zone, but charging customers for it). Why now? Cause it’s a billion dollar company like them coming into play? Not surprised.. greed!

poooooooo

Duh… do you not understand how business competitors work?
Your to innocuous. ..go home

Shane Sparky

Do you not understand how to spell properly? Nope, guess not

poooooooo

Cause im being marked on my spelling go f*** a hat

Martini

Your spelling and your attitude. Double whammy!

wildspin

Give him a break … he simply wants to emphasize his name – which is obviously poo. LOL

kEiThZ

Not just spelling. Common sense on economics and business eludes you too.

NotYouToo

If you work for a carrier, you have no idea how businesses work. You have a job because we basically have your employer on corporate welfare, but instead of taking money from taxes, they are protected and allowed to run a cartel that rips us off. Do you have a clue why they don’t want verizon? It’s because they are terrified of having to compete with a business, which is something they have never had to do before.

Don’t worry. If they lay you off, you can come mop my floors and mow my lawn. That’s about the same skill level as 90% of the carrier monkeys.

Eric Yuen

I love how you judge people that work for carriers like it’s their fault. If you ever actually speak to them instead of being a douche, some actually like their jobs and try to help the customer anyway they can. Don’t judge us just because you dealt with some one that sucked at their job. If our job is so useless then why do people even bother to come to a store? Sure you may be one of those people that do research and stuff, good for you, but not everyone is and alot of people perfer face to face interactions. You sir are a douche. Also just because I work for a carrier I still support verizon entering the Canada economy to bring some balance, but as a business student I understand how it can negatively affect our economy. But I’d rather see that so that the big 3 get some things shaken up. And yes I work for a carrier and I do understand how business works, if people who works for carriers didnt understand how business works how are the telecom companies generating over millions of dollars in rev/year? I’d like to know how much you make a year

disqus_FqJrvM2zAR

I currently work for a new entrant and I had been working for an incumbent before. This is how we should put it. Let’s not use the Big 3. Use your own industry whatever job you have now. Canada will now allow them to come in for free. This company have the capital to bring down your company and all your Canadian competition. Example Wal-Mart vs. Bay, Eaton, Sears. A line quoted from GM/Chrysler/Ford Employees “If you have a job now, Support Foreign”

Eric

Verzion certianly does, but can I ask you a question? When people start switching to Verizon, how will that effect our Canadian Economy? I think that in the long run it will cause for some issues because we will start pumping money in the US instead of spending it in Canada. It’s like the same situation with OIL in alberta, US companies have been given the chance to come in and drill for oil, only to pump up and sell it themselves, instead of Canadian companies drilling for oil. While the US pays for workers and fees to drill, its only a short term gain, as Canada could make more in the long run if they drilled them selves. I feel worried that the same thing will happen with phones (sort of) what do you think?

disqus_FqJrvM2zAR

We don’t even need to look far. Just look at Wal-Mart and belated Eatons and The Bay. In the long run you will see Canadian spending all our money in USA. Again if you still have a job support foreign.

icyhotonmynuts

Well then, RoBelUs ought to do something about it, if they want to keep my business. If Verizon is willing to offer me a cheaper price while keeping quality of service, why can’t any of the “big 3″ who have been milking (read: over charging) millions of Canadians over the last 20 years do the same? They’ve progressively leveled out all prices over the board to be the same between the three of them, meanwhile reducing what is offered to their customers. My 5 year old voice/data plan is better than the junk offered these days.

Let in some competition and stir some pot of excrement. Actually charge up the market with some innovation and let the consumer decide based on the merits of a company, rather than these bullying, intimidation and threatening remarks proposed by RoBelUs.

NotYouToo

The carriers generate billions actually. Not exactly rocket science when successive governments have handed you the keys to the kingdom. Think any of them would do well outside of Canada? Wonder why, during the decades they been around, they have never ventured outside of their little protected nest? They have also cause billions to our economy because of their high prices. Some estimates claim as much as $58 billion was lost to Canada in 5 years because of the carriers.

When you have your degree, do you think you will still works as a CSR? The offer is still open. I need someone to mop my floors.

Eric

Ya… I don’t know why you your bringing up those points, I’m not disagreeing with you. I agree the big 3 are spoon fed, and it’s good for verzion to give some compitetion. I was offended that you think all of us that worked in CSR are useless.
And no I already got an Account Executive position so thank you for the offer but I’m good.

disqus_FqJrvM2zAR

WOW.Maybe you might want to respect yourself here. I wonder how much to paid to get your degree. Since you don’t even know how to respect people in a discussion. Yes the carriers generate Billions in GROSS profit. Does that include costs? probably not. We pay more in Canada simply because we make more. China makes $1 CAD per hour or less so it makes sense for their cell phone rates to be cheaper.
Even if someone have a degree they can still have a job with telecom. Or maybe own a business running a few dealers. So if your company close down and you need a few floors to mop, you may submit your resumes here. Just to let you know, your fired.

NotYouToo

Umm, yes, profit margin includes costs. Top three in the world for developed countries. Highest ARPU too.

The majority of carrier employees are frontline…not exactly rocket scientist job requirements. About the same as a janitor.

Alpine

die as the little f****t you are…

K_p0w3r

Honestly roaming on wind prepaid is still cheaper than the standard charges on big 3 networks prepaid . the only down side is that they wipe you number after a week of zero balance and voice mail is extra.

Ccd

Before you say “like them” you might want to take a look at numbers! Verizon is bigger than our Big 3 altogether!!!!

Sweet

LMAO. They have no shame. Just like Kevin O’Leary. What a joke, all of them. Fortunately, Canadians’ opinions on the matter will be judged almost exclusively based on their monthly bill, and thus they’ll brush off the Big 3’s (and O’Leary’s) ridiculous rhetoric.

kEiThZ

Kevin O’Leary is transparent and honest. Everybody knows where and what he stands for. The Big 3 are nothing like that. They pretend to care about Canadians while raping our wallets and shipping jobs overseas.

Sweet

Kevin is transparent, but certainly not always honest. I agree about the Big 3, though.

Darth Paton

Oh, how the tables have turned! At this point, I don’t even care if mobile prices go up with Verizon entering the market. I’ve seen the Big 3 repeatedly treat their customers like crap and now they are going to pay for it, one way or another. When those crooks are bankrupt and charging Wind’s current prices for their plans, then I will be content. Until then, f*** you Big 3, f*** you!

Darth Paton

By the way, did any of you guys see/hear those ads the Big 3 were putting out, claiming they are waaay cheaper than their american counterparts? That was the biggest insult of all, basically the Big 3 telling us that we are a bunch of spoiled brats and we should be lucky to be getting the prices we do now. Ironically, they just jacked up their prices tenfold. Crooks.

Basil

So you’re suddenly paying $700/month for a plan you paid $70 for last month? That’s what “tenfold” means, since you obviously don’t know.

Darth Paton

Crap you’re right ha ha, guess I got so worked up there I didn’t even notice! No need for the condescension though…

ineptone

He was being hyperbolic. Which, in case you aren’t aware, is a commonly used literary tool used to emphasize or add effect.

John

Hate to say it, but just looking at Verizon’s plans… they are no better and some are even worse than Roger’s.

Dalex

What Verizon plans? What would their US plans have to do with anything?

poooooooo

O and just wait to see what the crtc is going to do Aug 9…..

poooooooo

I work for a big 3… work a day in my shoes and you’ll realize how much consumers don’t pay attention to their usage or even know what their pan is! I’ve grown to believe the consumers are i****s and have no idea what they’re doing. .. t
And take a step back and consider this. … do you not think the government is controlling and regulating or prices. … hint hint.

Dalex

I work with consumers as well and that does not give my company the right to gouge them, because they might be simple minded. Consumers not knowing what their plan is is not an excuse for all the plans to be ripoffs.

poooooooo

I dont see how robelus plans are rip offs… $70/m seems pretty legit for the computer that fits in your pocket that you rely so much on.
US prices are very similar…I’ve never been gouged. ..and consumers are very greedy

ArberBeq

Cause more then $40 of that $70 is pure profit.

Dalex

Ok at this point, I’m pretty convinced I’m just arguing with a propaganda spreader (MS should really have moderation to ban people like you), but you can’t honestly believe that sincerely… Look at your ARPU, look at the margins. Are you serious? Are you that daft?

poooooooo

No…im proud of who I work for and get offended when people dont know what theyre talking about…our government has a lot of control of the telecom companies

Bbrysucks

You need to be added to the bunch that should be thrown into the fire. Period.

Alpine

oooh man can’t wait to switch to Verizon so people like you lose their job ….haha

Guest

Approx. 6 years ago, $15 (or less) bought unlimited on device data usage from one of our carriers. 3 years ago, $30 bought 6GB from the same. Today that carrier will charge you $75/month for the same 6GB. 4 days ago $55/mo would have bought you 5GB AND unlimited nationwide calling, provided you lived in an area where the carrier HAD TO PAY SOMEONE ELSE TO ROAM ON THEIR TOWERS – and theoretically that was still profitable enough for their marketing guys.

HeyYoWL

And of that $70 a month, how much of it is for things you don’t need? Let’s say for the sake of argument I agree with you that Rogers’ monthly fees are fair. My plan for $65 a month with Rogers used to be 6GB of data (I only ever use 2.5-3GB), 1000 minutes with free evenings and weekends (I rarely call anyways when it’s day time, and I rarely use more than 120 minutes anyways), 10000 text messages (100-200 a month), and My10 (to replace the free Rogers to Rogers that was removed from my account without notifying me). Now, did I need anywhere near what they were giving me? Hell no. Would I like to pay less and get less (absolutely fair)? Hell yes. But of course that’s not in any of the Big 3 best interests. Charging me for extra crap I don’t need or want is what they do.

Darth Paton

Do you have evidence that the government is controlling and regulating pricing?

pacalis

Hmmm, Roam (a CDN company) sells prepaid US card is $4 for a day for unlimited talk and text and 100Megs of data, no roaming, no overages. In one day, that offers me more service in 24 hours than I have for $50 (200 minutes, 100Mg, plus roaming, plus overages) in my monthly plan.

Now, that’s not apples and oranges you say. Well for $8 additional a day on my corporate plan I get reduced US roaming and 50 Megs of data. So twice the price, half the service, and I’m already paying a high service rate.

Here’s a hint. I do know what my plan is and that’s why I welcome Verizon and every other entrant.

Alpine

you are right i have to constantly check that shitty app of FIDO that only works with 3G to make sure I havent passed the fking 500 MB data…

Rich

Whether this whole Verizon thing goes through or not, I like that the Big 3 are shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to PR.

Eric Tang

Competition is good!

liquidsteele

My heart goes out to Telus, Rogers & Bell. All they ever have wanted is to give the consumer the best deals such as standard 3 year contracts.
Pfft, Verizon have only ever given 2 year contracts! That’s how it works… right?

Let the consumer decide.

Joey T

I have actually spent the better part of this afternoon searching for a means to contact the people responsible for these ad’s. I as well as many other people who I have spoke with feel this entire campaign is a load of garbage. It’s merely the “big 3″ pleading for help because if “big red” make its way north of the border. Its lights out for the money gouging, mis-leading behavior we have all be dealing with for longer then any of us would care to admit. This isn’t a ploy for keeping jobs in Canada, its a ploy for not having to bring better service and integrity to Canadian customers.

kroms

Right on !! Well said.

Frederick Edwards

First off they release full page ads in papers around the country touting that they offer rates 40% cheaper than their American counterparts. Then, they raise their prices 50-75% higher upon switching to two-year contracts. And now, they protest when a 4th player, one of their American counterparts, wants to compete? Sound about right?

kroms

lol

Nicholas Burke

Bell is the last one to promote “pro-jobs” They outsource almost ALL of their call centres to third party centers and then that is all overseas. The only Canadian ones are the French and upper tech centers. At least TELUS and ROGERS have their centers in Canada. They are all worried that they will have to reduce their plans and not gouge us as much as they do now. Screw you.

kroms

Well SAID Nicholas. Well said. SO TRUE. Rogers does the same thing , only a small percent are still here. Even when you have a problem with cable it’s a contractor that shows up , not a Rogers owned employee anymore. They are far few now.

Ray

can’t speak for Rogers, Don’t Telus have call centers in the Philippines?

poooooooo

No. ..I work for rogers. . Were all Canadian call centers

Gabriel

All Telus call center are in Canada. Thereis only one ddepartment in Philippines and it only concern corporate stores, not the customer.

Martini

By “jobs,” they mean how much money their CEOs can cram into their pockets.

Big 3 companys have affordable plans for their network they provide and the phones they support and progams they have for consumers…us has asame prices just their contracts are different…and the crtc will be affecting all canadian contracts in a week …. well be doing 2yr only as well…

Sluma

Get off your high horse

Jared S

They talk about fairness, please explain how their reaction to ending 3 year contracts is fair?

Canadians pay more for their phones PLUS much more on their monthly service.

How fair is that? Why even touch monthly rates? Bring on Verizon. Can not get worse.

poooooooo

Wait a week…the phone companies are going to scare you more…;)

kroms

BULL SH$T Mike ! WE ARE TIRED !!
Hey Mike , you do not speak for us Canadians. The FACT IS BELL, ROGERS , TELUS do not even HEAR US !!

Fawoo

I like how instead of getting the higher up executives (which are the only ones who actually give a damn about a new competitor) to appear on the video, they specifically chose the “lower management”. I’m also guessing that they got a huge bonus for doing the video.

Oh well, this has to be the worst video in existence when it comes to our Telecommunications. Instead of tackling the issue in a great way (provide competitive prices, incentives to stay) they decide to make a childish video. When will you guys learn?!

PS. Did anyone notice how dead in the eyes every single person in the video looked? At least hire actors to make it seem like you’re passionate the topic.

Kevin

Does anyone notice that Verizon charges 70 a month for their unlimited national plans and that is done with over 100 million subscribers. What do you think the cost would be to run a national network that will be slightly bigger than their American network with less than 10 million Canadians to spread the cost. And that is if they can get that many seeing how wind and mobility combine has less than 2 million and couldn’t afford to keep a profitable business running?

HelloCDN

Shhh… People come here to laugh at Big 3. Thinking will happen later, when Verizon start charging them same as locals.

Paul

Canada may be slightly larger than the United States but the cell phone networks sure aren’t. Look at a coverage map. Something like 85% of this country is virtually uninhabited and has no cell phone network at all. In the US the networks cover most of the country. So sure, we have a smaller population, but we also have a much smaller area to cover.

wildspin

So true, Robellus coverage maps on their web sites say it all.

justin L

HAHA this from companies that have outsourced jobs to other countries. One of the largest office towers in manila Phillippines has a telus logo on it.

poooooooo

Rogers is all Canadians! !!!! Proud Canadians

Gabriel

Don’t you realize that a company building is not exclusively for customer service? Telus is 100 percent Canadian if we speak of custumer services .

kroms

This is a Joke right ? Does BELL honestly believe Canadians feel sympathy for them on this one ? I mean SERIOUSLY ?

Hey BELL, have you ever tried to LISTEN ! To what Consumers want ?

pfff Mike from Bell. Get lost.

Martini

My brother did network configuration for Bell for many, many years, and they used to treat their employees well. Then the recession hit and their attitude became, “Well, really, the economy is garbage and you should be happy that you’re employed.” He was eventually laid off.

Beautiful, love it, Robelus are scared, be it good or bad Verizon coming in, I hope they do , make the big 3 sweat a little, they been too comfortable for too long, and I hope they get scared very scared, their hand in the cookie jar just might get slapped lol

poooooooo

Were not scared of competition…were scared of how they are going to screw ever customer possible…. its about regulation. ..not greed. ..read the story with a dictionary so you can comprehend it all better

dracos

you guys been screwing the consumer for to long I hope they they slap you hands away from the cookie jar, you guys need a lesson, you guys been too long running the show alone, too long to know how the consume really feels about you big 3. Yes you guys are scared of a little competition

poooooooo

Competing is good for us and consumers. . Thats not what we’re afraid of.
Try asking your government why our process are so high. .they’re the one who regulates them

HelloCDN

Lol this Cameron guy from TELUS looks so typical for Vancouver. A lot of them I see getting wasted on weekends, probably spending about $300 every month. And then complaining how everything is expensive

Dalex

Such crooks, do they have no shame??? Funny how there’s no comment section on their “Fair For Canada” website, because they know they know people would **** all over their shiny turd of lying website.

hardy83

Well if there are any teachers out there, this is a good, recent example of propaganda.

Andre

Bell/Rogers have to be amongst the most contemptible companies I have ever dealt with. Anything that gets them mad is just fine with me. I would pay extra just to see them go under. Loyalty to Canada? The only thing they are loyal to is their bottom line.
Simple question – why is it so hard to buy a good selection of unlocked phones in Canada? (Nexus is an exception). I will never buy another phone in Canada until they start selling unlocked. Who buys a car that is ‘locked’ to Hwy 401?
This PR campaign from ROBELUS is the best news I’ve heard in ages – they must be really scared LMAO

poooooooo

Your government is the ne who tells manufactures to lock the phones to networks. . Your government. .. not pgone companies. ..read anyone’s terms and service agreemwnts… it says it all there…says that in your contracts too.

Kyang

Whenever us consumers want to buy a phone outright, anywhere you go the sales rep will tell you it’s only available through contract. I know it’s absolute bs just wanting you to sign up for a contract, yet they list the buying outright option available online to attract you. No sympathy for these bad companies.

Petephone

Why is this industry always singled out.

We buy/manufacture cars from the ‘other’ Big 3, Imported and exported.
We get broadcast signals from America, Bell also streams from them on their Satellites (shhh…don’t tell Canadians).
I thought we had a NAFTA free trade agreement??
We import their beers.
Bombardier sells the Johnson/Evinrude brand outboards world wide.

How is this ‘commodity’ any different??

EvanKrosney

You know what, in all honesty I’d love for Verizon to stay out of the country, I’d much prefer to support Canadian owned and operated carriers that stimulate our national economy, as opposed to sending money to other countries or even overseas.

But you know what? Clearly it’s needed. Until Verizon or any other large foreign carrier gets into the market here, we’re going to continue being subject to this monopoly and almost every consumer in the Canadian wireless market is going to continue falling victim to this price fixing and scamming from the Big 3. We NEED more competition, and it looks as if looking out of country is our only option because Robelus isn’t doing anything to lower prices to benefit Canadians.

The reason that the Canadian government is giving priority to Verizon and others is because we have to make our market look appealing to out of country carriers so that they can set up shop here. Maybe the CRTC wouldn’t be so desperate and willing to give these huge priorities and advantages to other carriers, no matter their size, if we had better pricing and reasonable rates to begin with. Suck it up Robelus, the only reason this is happening is because of your ridiculous price gouging that’s been going on for the past few decades.

poooooooo

Thank your government. .. they regulated it

magesnz

can i say something to mister poooooooooooooooo, can you just shut the f…. up please, you sound almost like a propaganda machine that keep on repeating the same b…. for the last 50 years, first it was long distance, then local phone service, now its cell phones…. please get a life and stop saying crap about foreign companies …. thank you

Their intentions were good, and I can easily see why the regulation was put in place to begin with. Lots of countries have locally owned and operated carriers and can have a self-sustaining market, however still quite a few markets would still be getting gouged if it wasn’t for foreign carriers entering their market to bring prices down (ie Vodafone, Vimpelcom, Orange or T-Mobile in Europe).

Dalex

I really hope Verizon is the first of many foreign entrants. Come on Vodafone, Oranje, T-Mobile Deutsche Telekom, etc. etc. Run these greedy big 3 bastards out of business.

ugottony

Amen!

alamarco

I’m all for free speech, but I’ve always wondered how blatant lies, scare tactics and mind washing is a legal form of advertisement/marketing.

These types of ads make me sick.

kazryv

Shouldn’t we be happy that they are coming to the market so that telus, bell and rogers can’t just increase prices by 50% or more whenever they want like they just did?

hunkyleepickle

Yes, because all the fantastic jobs working the mall carrier kiosks are really propping up our economy. Honestly, wouldn’t operating a lean business be considered a good thing, one that in theory should trickle down to lower prices for its customers?

BB BB

Yeah it’s disgusting how many kiosks and stores there are in each and every mall. Robelus have at least 2 + stores + kiosks in every mall across 6 or more different brands and sub brands. That’s really efficient. Then when you go to one for service they tell you to call customer care and can’t do a damn thing other than sell you 3 year prison sentences for your cell phone bill.

gmaninvan

This is insulting to the Canadian subscriber. How can the incumbents actually have the audacity to ask Canadians to support their propaganda about jobs when they have been actively fighting legitimate competition for the last five years that brought new jobs to Canadians

Thurnis

Watching that video made me sick.

poooooooo

Go get your awesome service you’ll get from the cheap companies. ..pay for quality and quantity. ..

Dalex

Rogers is probably the shittiest wireless provider out of all 3 (and that’s a pretty low bar). They have horrible staff with eye gouging customer service. They have probably the worst prices of the big 3 (again very low bar). I worked for a few months at Rogers when I was a student, the people there are moronic to say the least. And before you continue lying, they do outsource jobs, they already did when I was there and its getting worse.

poooooooo

Clearly you needed to be updated on rwcent changes… we aee cheaper than belus…. and front line sales reps. . Of course there a*s holes..they have to deal with the general pissed off public.
You may have had a bad team at the store you worked at. .I’m sorry for that. .its a shame

Dalex

So basically, by wanting to insult me you just admitted that your front line staff is horrible? The “front line” staff. You know the people that provide an image of your company to your consumers. Your prices are horrible. I pay 50$ a month for unlimited talk/text/vmo/cd and 6gb of data on Telus, but your 70$ for the computer in my pocket is a good deal?

If you’re going to spread propaganda can you at least do a worthwhile job, wouldn’t want Rogers to fire you…

ugottony

I hope Rogers goes out of business!

magesnz

like the british will say, total bullox……

Pigeon

I think you mean bollocks!

Dyno

They should have spent all this advertising money lowering prices instead.

Balls O’Steele

Is it just me or does Mike look like a robot?

I don’t believe for one minute that Verizon is any more evil than Bell, Rogers, or Telus.
I am more concerned that another wireless player will fragment spectrum so much that no single carrier will be able to run a fast, reliable national network. If there is a fourth player they should all be forced to share bandwidth and towers.

Catharsis Ponder

I honestly don’t think it will be any different with Verizon in Canada, for customers anyway. They will all agree to price fix like the big 3 currently do and share in the massive profits.

Catharsis Ponder

This quote is funny from the source website:

““But there is no basis for the Commission to give certain large companies a regulatory hand-out … so they can acquire spectrum … at substantial discount over the price that would otherwise be received.””

Isn’t that exactly how the big three got their spectrum initially.. for FREE

Stephen K

Did anyone else hear greedy baby cries?

ugottony

These cowards lol, wow is Canadian business that sad and pathetic?

Guest

I hope rogers goes out of business.

Turbojugend

Oh good, a fourth provider to come into Canada, so mindless consumers that have no idea what they are signing up for or how to properly educate themselves on how their plan or device works, to complain about. Mark my words, even if Verizon comes in, offers cheaper plans, millions of i****s will still find something to complain about.

Dalex

I know how my plan and device works, does that mean I get to not pay ridiculous prices now? No? Thought so… Where do you people come from with these comments?

Turbojugend

Sorry I come from getting a plan I can afford that provides me with unlimited calling anytime, unlimited texting, 2 gigs of data, VM, call display, all for $53 dollars taxes in. How come YOU signed a contract and pay a lot of money?

Bbrysucks

In all honesty, the big threes execs (all of them) need to be rounded up, strung together, and be burned alive. Have it broadcasted on live TV to demonstrate to any future business aßßwipe(s) that if they decide to work against the people then just simply fūckōff beforehand. Its a shame no Canadians have the balls to do anything anymore. Complacent babies and losers.

Martini

Ah, glorious crocodile tears. It must be awful crying all the way to the bank.

HelloCDN

Lol it’s so funny how everyone’s cheering for Verizon. Guys, they will come in here and give it to you the hard way just as Big 3. Ridiculous to look at all these comments.
No wonder the government is lobbying for Verizon… Why not Vodafone, huh? The only worldwide operator who would really drive the prices down. Oh, but Vodafone doesn’t have any influence and US money and power to back up Harper and Co, so no wonder…

Dalex

You do know Vodafone owns Verizon right? No one is blind to the fact that Verizon is a greedy ***hat like these other greedy bastards. They will have to work their way up to being an ***hat here though, and that means competition. When they acquire enough consumers, just invite the next entrant, until we actually have enough of them to have a fair market, just like in Europe.

kroms

Actually we are sick and tired of getting up the A$$ by the same people all the time. So it be nice to let someene else do it. Point is if we are have to pay and shut up I’d rather it be VERIZON for change and not ROBELUS.

I’m so tired of those 3

goodgangsta

Verizon +wind= good for canadian
robelus is scared he wont be able to clean canadians

ABCONMan

Funny how most of the whiners here about Robelus are really nothing more than Wind/Mobilicity subs.

I hope Verizon comes and rapes you hard.

BB BB

Waaaa Waaaa Waaaa haha hahaha I can’t wait! I will bring all my personal and business lines to Verizon. Rogers Can you hear me now? theres a new big red

Jonavin

The more of these they do the more we hate them. Does Bell/Telus/Rogers know they’re doing more to harm themselves.

kroms

No, they are oblivious ,,,,, that’s why they made that AD.

softturbo

First they grab you by the neck and shake every penny out of you. And now the older brother is not so much as passing by the door and they start pretending we’ve been friends and we should be on their side.
If they have truly been good to Canadians, then they wouldn’t have to play the Canadian card in the first place. They are more like the oppressor that needs to be overthrown.

Samuel Gomez Recuero

Get one with better prices and you will have not to fear Verizon. You might have to lower just prices if competition gets tough but isn’t best prices with good service a better deal for costumers? The big 3 have always agreed to charge about the same thing with their plans so there have never been much of a choice before, now the field might change and some poeple might be afraid of changes.

James Arsenault

I wanted Verizon to come to Canada !!

BB BB

Can we create a petition against this crybaby crap? They come crying to the public to sign a petition against the very government that they put in their back pocket for the last 20 years. New money is coming to town, Robelus will have to operate more efficiently maybe merge together some of their altogether 9 brands and offer unlimited calling plans without gouging us on data caps and ridiculous roaming fees that are 100x their actual cost. For this reason I’ve supported wind for the last 3 years. Unfortunately their service hasn’t improved much over that time and their service is unreliable as my primary phone line but within city limits they are the best value for your dollar.

PT

“Fair For Canada”

That’s easy! Get rid of RoBelus!

DX

If the big 3 are so Canadian minded how come they will not “play ball” and sell bandwidth to Canadian cell company Ting so they can operate in Canada. I for one think contracts should be done away with all together. Buy what ever phone you want (or can afford) and pay for the service and features you need. Not all the BS bundling. Subsidizing phones is about a stupid a providing people with a free furnace (HVAC) if they sign a co tract with said energy company. How about a free Cadillac if I sign a contracts to only buy gas from Esso? Verizon could be good maybe we could go into the US without having to pay $3 a MB. Also the roaming agreements we have in Canada are pathetic. If you have a Telus phone and you are any ware in Manitoba (except between Winnipeg & Brandon) you can’t even get service. Since the analog days it feels like we have poorer coverage you might as well start calling cell phones city phones because that is about the only place you get service. I welcome Verizon. Oh and you don’t see MTS or SaskTel making boo hoo videos. Suck it up.

Dariusz Stochmal

Rogers and Bell and so on are as bad as Verizon so until Rogers and co change offering better pricing and service more competition the better for us.

suzukivz

Let the gouging end. TRB (Telus Rodgers Bell) we hope your reign of days of lucrative consumer enslavement are drawing to an end. If allowing foreign competition
into the canadian market is the only way we can get a fair deal, then bring it on.

Matt

This ad absolutely infuriates me. These clowns have the balls to say that they’re looking out for Canadians? That they’re worried about Canadian jobs? If they want to play fair they can let go some of the bandwidth they’re hoarding and offer it up to some off the new entrants or a foreign company to buy. If they want to keep jobs in Canada maybe Bell needs to stop shutting down call centres in Canada and outsourcing to the Philippines.

I can assure you that I didn’t vote for this federal government but I sure as hell support them right now as they try to get some foreign companies to set up shop in Canada’s wireless arena.

Chris Sosa

I am extremely excited for Verizon to come here. Despite how many people continue to rant on about how Verizon won’t care about us. Telus, Bell and Rogers haven’t cared for years. This Is why we are here. The people have spoken.

The truth of the matter is, no matter which way you look at it the big three are going to have to start to be a lot more competitive.

The days of us paying a lot of money for a small amount of talk, text and data are over.

As long as the industry continues to be regulated ie: spectrum, prices and reinvestment in the Canadian economy. I am over joyed by this exciting turn of events!

I think WE the people should start a petition against the Big 3’s misleading media campaign.

Scott Cook

deal with it big 3 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JTon

You’re right. That is basic. Too basic.

Here’s an alternative strategy that some analysts on bay street give a chance of happening. Verizon is going to come into the market and poach the big 3s high-value business clients (rogers has the most to lose here) offering premium service that:
a) includes roaming in the states (huge)
b) exploits CRTC tower sharing rules for new entrants so they don’t have to build out of the cities (they will eat the minimal canadian roaming fee). This keeps their cost low enough to make it worth it.

Now I’m not saying that strategy will definitely happen. But Wind wasn’t making any money with their amazingly priced plans. Verizon will absolutely not follow. Don’t be so naive. Verizon is a massive corporate enterprise, and it’s not looking to start a price war.

Martini

Minions from overseas, it would appear…

Sanjay Kumar

I hope verizon gets mobilicity and wind so big 3 will be more reasonable with their prices.

Jordan Alcock

Yeah… government interaction doesn’t solve problems, it creates new ones. Government rules preventing foreign ownership have helped cause a lot of this problem, its refreshing to see the possibility of foreign owned entities operating in this market.

I think we should look to the European/Asian model and have phone financing companies. So you pay the phone financing company for the phone and the carrier for the service.

Of course, the market would need to embrace that… not sure how well that would work with our “one-stop-shop” preference.

But don’t be fooled, this isn’t just “greed”, this is wholly caused by us as consumers failing to send the message that we won’t accept their terms. We buy in to it like sheep and then complain when they continue – it’s completely ridiculous.

That said, people have incredibly unrealistic expectations of these companies. They still need to turn a profit, they have shareholders (including us via the CPP) to worry about. And so many people signed on to contracts without understanding the terms of them (its called reading). In all fairness, without the change to the term lengths, a $10.00 a month price drop would have been about the absolute best you could have hoped for, and even that would have been a bit of a stretch.

K_p0w3r

Wasn’t that what CRTC WIRELESS CODE was supposed to be. The result of canadian wireless customers being heard, and what was the end result? The big 3 just side stepping the code by rolling the confusing nonsense charges in with the ones that used english and raising the prices on 2 year contracts so they make the same amount off them as 3 year contracts. Heck when the CRTC told bell they couldnt increase their monopoly on canadian media by purchasing Astral , Bell had a sh*t fit and went right around them to the federal goverment. Guess who now has the go ahead to purchase Astral and by extension own most of canadian television . the big 3 could care less what their customes say, nomatter how loud they shout it . the only way to get their attention is with your wallet and while it would be great if alternatives were more appealing (if only wind could afford more towers), right now theres simply no alternative for coverage.

MXH070

You are fooling yourself if you think the big 3 keep there money in Canada. A s fast as they make it, it’s transfered off shore so they don’t have to pay taxes on it and same goes with board members. It’s call greed they don’t care about Canada or you and your employment only profit and the size of their bank account

Jay Rey

Is that what happens when i get paid? I transfer my money out of canada? I work for Telus. I dind’t know I didn’t have to pay my taxes. hmmm… I’m also pretty sure there are laws in place to prevent any organization from not paying taxes but then you probably know more being that you sound like an expert and all that.

MXH070

Guess you are not keeping up with the news on the number of off shore accounts are held by Canada’s elite to avoid paying taxes. Us every day worker pay for this country while the rich get a free ride and get all the tax breaks as they know the loop holes we don’t….

It’s simple let the consumer decide which carrier they want and don’t bring in those budget carries as they were NO threat with the pathetic cover they had. IF Big Red comes up then there will be real competition for the market share how bad will the big 3 want to maintain there client base and how bad does Big Red want the lions share of the consumer base.

Jay Rey

So are you saying the big three are the only elite, or are you suggesting that all rich people cheat?

MXH070

That would be all and the big 3 board members only see Big Red making the pile of money they get yearly smaller. They don’t care about the employees nor the economy of Canada just their big fat bank account, golden parachutes and tropical vacation homes.

Jay Rey

So your argument is against the leaders of the big 3, and to ask for deliberate crash of the big 3 is inconsiderate concerning those of us that work for them yet are not out to take your money. In fact most of us are consumers too and only want fairness across the board and therefore not greedy. Thanks for the specifics then, it only took three comments.

MXH070

What’s funny they out source 80% of the work out of Canada to maximize profits and yet they play the loss of Canadian work if Big Red comes..

Then you champion for them. Competition is GOOD

Unwound

*rolls eyes so far back that they fall out of my head*

Jason Francis Connolly

“Fair for the Colony”

Jay Rey

Love the comments (sarcasm). Being an employee of one of the big three I an honestly say that if Verizon enters in to Canada the market will definitely shift for the better for most consumers. For like a few years, then even out and start to climb again. People forget that the reason Verizon is even considering into entering into the market here is because of the current ARPU. Seriously, do you really assume they are looking to invest the effort, money and time to even come here if they didn’t want the piece of the pie. Do you really think they will buy out wind and even mobilicity and then stay playing that game that has clearly been failing for awhile.

Many comments come and say that the big three is greedy and it doesn’t add up with all these increases. I’m not excusing that the levels are in the right, but surely you can see that the investment of three years to two years on contracts drastically changes the value of each subscriber? That the big three putting up the towers to cover less subscribers on a larger area need to compensate for the expenses they invested much different than telecoms in the south. Those of you that are taken aback by these things feed on the fact that yes the business runs on monetary standards, well sorry to burst your bubble but the whole world works that way.

And as for the actual article about the message that Verizon will end up taking jobs, do you really believe that is not true? Even if you do and don’t care because it will be Bell, Rogers and Telus that gets the hit and their employees, are you really that jaded that you pick to side yourself with another bad guy to beat up another bad guy? It is a sad sight to see people want a company to go under knowing that people work there just as you would at your job because you don’t like how the business is run. And before you even back another business like Verizon, have you seen the comments made about them in US, yes they looks similar to your arguments made against the big three here. If you wanted the changes to happen, you should have backed up Mobilicity and Wind. They are real competitors that tried to make changes here, but no, most of you complaining are not willing to back them at all because of the inconvenience of the services they provide, like zones, hardware selection or whatever.

So i suggest before you start throwing stones at the big three, you should first think about what you have really done to change status quo? Because the comments your making to take down the big three will have collateral damage and without knowing it you may just hurt someone you care about, including yourself.

kroms

” So i suggest before you start throwing stones at the big three, you
should first think about what you have really done to change status quo? ”

L M A O.
Oh so you mean we should complain ? or voice our opinions ?

I don’t know what rock you crawled out from under but ” IF ” you truly work for 1 of the BIG 3 then YOU of all people should know that Candians have no say when it comes to conveying issues or problems they have with anything to do with there Cell service ,especially THERE BILL !

Please , go cry wolf somewhere else. We have had it .

Jay Rey

Hey read the damn comment, one way is to subscribe to Wind or mobilicity. Or don’t sign a F’in contract. Grow up, you make it seem like you don’t have a choice. The truth is you are unwilling to down grade from the service provided by the big three, you are just want them to drop the prices as if you deserve it solely because you want it. I bet you complain about your governments too but choose not to vote right?

Jay Rey

Scam? Really? Price gouging? Like when we give out credit for people who forgot to add a feature to roam in the US, or replace their phone when they break it by dropping in the bath tub. Or how about crediting accounts because the customer misunderstood that their plan doesn’t include long distance even though they said they read and signed the contract. I’ve worked in retail as well and the truth is most people are so willing to blame someone else because they didn’t take the time to understand what they are signing up for. I love it that people assume that when they sign for a zero dollar phone that they own the contract and can leave anytime without paying a cancellation, this is within six weeks of signing. I also love it when a customer comes to us and compains that we changed overages charges on them during a contract, when clearly the plan we already provided them was the right fit to their needs and overages only ever happened if they used their plans incorrectly. Oh and I love the story that they didn’t get a bill and therefore do not need to pay for it.

Yes I totally get that not everyone is like this, but really take some responsibility on what you do. People complain but do nothing about it before hand, you may not want to join my crusade but you are being foolish to assume my so called superiors are going to listen when you keep buying what their selling. And buying what they don’t understand. Grow up and take responsibility, with your wallet especially.

Also just an FYI, the pricing for plans was getting better and better as the years was going by. I would know, I have a plan that I got that was exactly what I wanted before this stupid 2 year stuff came around. I blame CRTC for all this really. If they wanted better pricing and better terms they should have said more accurately what can or cannot be done. Not this half assed terms changes. Consumers complain a lot about the big three but CRTC should have known this would happen.

Billy

I recenty know someone who have brought their iphone oversea and came back with a $8000 bill (that’s eight thousand dollars). Yes, the person wasn’t a smart phone savvy user so I’d blame her. But, hey who in their right mind would expect someone to pay $8000 cell phone bill? Yea, only the Big 3 would. With the recent CRTC code instituting a cap on roaming charges, you guys will now have to follow. But, I was wondering why you guys didn’t do that before. You could have given her a call, text her, anything to let her know, but nope. Nothing. Nada. Until she opens the bill and almost have a heart attack. What you said about giving out credits here and there, pfft, we all know it’s peanuts comparing to what you guys charge.

Billy

I forgot to add, the 2 year stuff is what Americans have been enjoying for years. It’s stupid according to you I guess is because they reduced your commissions.

Thomas Ramsay

Screw Rogers, Bell and Telus. Bring Verizon to Canada

kroms

Agreed, BRING them ON !

Dylan Arbour

What?

A fourth national carrier from the US will create jobs, increase competition, maintain growth/development/innovation. These are all good for Canadian consumers. It will take a chunk out of the Big 3’s profits if they’re not willing to compete.

Before Wind, Mobilicity and Public Mobile, Robellus customers had have to deal with ECFs as high as $700, plans that didn’t include roaming at all, and ridiculous pay-per-use overage charges.

All this has changed for the better of the Canadian consumer despite a dip in Robellus profits.

Collectively they still made 4.92 billion dollars in profit in 2011.

Poor them.

Jay Rey

Yeah and verizon at that time rose to $1.38 billion taht same time. Do you really believe verizon will forgo any type of profit. The difference in profit is about .3 Billion dollars on a single carrier. Splitting that down to each subscriber, does your math add up to better prices on hardware and plan and services? Let me know?

Dylan Arbour

It’s not about foregoing profit for Verizon, like any company their goal is to make it, but they will have to compete in order to acquire Robellus customers. This means lower prices. In turn, Robellus will have to also compete to keep customers.

Bottom line the Canadian consumer saves money.

Rogers made $1.56 billion in profit in 2011 with $12.4 billion in revenue. Verizon made $2.4 billion in 2011 with $110 billion in revenue.

So a company 9 times the size of Rogers is making six times less the profit, compared to Rogers.

That’s real math.

Jay Rey

Thank you. for being accurate on your argument. I was waiting to be proven wrong. Now let’s see if they continue the trend in Canada.

Larry

I have a verizion phone
the rates the service they offer is far better than rogers, telus and bell could ever do
never over charged and look after thier costumers when there is a misunderstanding far better than any of the so named carriers
come on into canada Verizion show these company’s what service is all about

Joe G

Can we start a kickstarter campaign? I’m willing to pitch in so the big 3 can directly hear from us – hate that the ad campaigns are so 1 sided!

kroms

Id pay $ or that yes.

Guest

Can we start a kickstarter campaign? I’m willing to pitch in so the big 3 can directly hear from us – hate that the ad campaigns are so 1 sided!

Joe G

sorry for the double post – not sure what happened!

James Arsenault

I wanted to see Verizon here in Canada and let them to competition with big 3 and see who is the winner.

kroms

Hey Mike (BELL ), Rogers, and TELUS. Here is an idea for you.

Go out to Canadian Cities and Do a LIVE Poll with people on the street and then put that AD on TV. If you po;; shows Canadians are HAPPY then we will all STFU and support you.

Hows that ?

kroms

like Joe said.

“Joe G

19 minutes ago
Can we start a kickstarter
campaign? I’m willing to pitch in so the big 3 can directly hear from us
– hate that the ad campaigns are so 1 sided! ”

It be nice to have a VERIZON bumper sticker so when MIKE pull up behind you he can clearly get the message how pissed Canadians are at them for the years of Over priced Fees we have had to suffer.

kroms

Hey MIKE, show us your Cell Bill .

Now THAT ! would interesting.

Mario Cantin

Ah yeah, cry me a song! This is one industry I have no sympathy for. Welcome to Canada Verizon. Please disrupt our carriers’s perfect little nest.

ScooterinAB

What frustrates me the most is that so many people who post on this websites REFUSE to look at the truth. Why does everyone seem to think that a fourth carrier is some kind of magic wand that will suddenly fix everything and make for cell phone bill $0/month? It won’t. Verizon is among the most expensive carriers in the US. They will enter the market without spending a dime and make a whole bunch of money off of the backs of Canadians. That is the truth. When Wind tried to go national, they failed miserably in the market because the have no revenue. This isn’t about the Big 3 eating babies, nor about conspiracies to keep others out of the market. This is about economics so basic that a 5 year old can understand how this works.

You can piss and moan all you want about the Big 3, but step back and realize for one second that Verizon’s intentions to enter the Canadian market is raising more red flags than a bull fight. Whether they are good or bad remains to be seen, but we need to put the brakes on this and stop the Canadian government from bending over backwards for a foreign power.

That video was absolutely ridiculous, and an embarrassment to each of the Big 3. But the point still stands. There are a whole bunch of concerns being raised about Verizon’s unfair entry into our market that need to be addressed before they are allowed to make a play for Wind and/or Moblicity. This desire to force a fourth carrier are blinding the CRTC and the federal government to the rampant abuses that Verizon can and likely will exploit.

Close your flapping for 5 seconds and look at what’s happening. Whether you like the Big 3 or not, you cannot ignore the reg flags.

Billy

Nobody’s asking for $0/month bill. What everyone is asking for is reasonable rate, and that hasn’t happened. If Verizon were to come in and supposedly do nothing like you said (“without spending a dime”) no network upgrades, no expansion, and use crappy coverage of Wind to compete, then why are the Big 3 so scared? Now close your flappying.

kEiThZ

1) In a competitive market, yes, you eat it. Because if you raise rates, your competitors will gain market share and your churn and attrition will increase. Only in an uncompetitive market can players all raise rates at the same time with nobody looking to capture market share.

2) Unlike the Big 3, Verizon’s executives actually know something about business and competition. Big 3 execs are only well schooled in the moves required to maintain an oligopoly. Yes, Verizon will invest. And yes they’ll want ROI. Anything less and their execs should be fired. Nobody invests $3-4 billion just to have that investment languish.

3) Your ignorance is showing. Only in Canada, do telcos build their own tower sites. Rest of the world has shared networks. Look up Global Tower Partners. Our guys have an over the top capital intensive model for one reason only: to keep the competition out. So that they can pull crap like they did with Wind and Mobilicity. Government mandates tower sharing. They responded by putting up inactive antennas so they could say the towers were full or give the minnows worse antenna positions. In any event, again, if the Big 3 are so good, why aren’t people beating at their door to get them to invest? There’s a lot of very small countries where they could invest. Look at our big banks and their growth in the Caribbean. The reality is that the Big 3 have no clue how to operate outside of a completely sheltered regulatory environment. That’s why they are panicking now.

4) Let’s talk about choices that Canadians make. Like the choice we made to protect these guys for decades because we believed they would serve us. They given us the highest prices in the world. And they’ve shipped jobs overseas. Every time a little minnow comes up to compete (Clearnet, Microcell/Fido, Wind, Mobilicity) they resort to every tactic in the book to starve them out and then buy them up. This quid pro quo is anything but. It’s an entirely one-side affair and Canadians are sick of it. The government has our full-backing to upset this apple cart. And not just on wireless. Let’s go after tv, internet, airlines, banking, and insurance after this. If any industry wants protections, they better show a clear benefit to Canada. That includes price levels at the global average or lower and not a single job exported. Anything less and they should be subjected to foreign competition.

j s gill

Bring on Verison, TMobile, Vodafone and any other company to increase the competition. The oligopoly of Bell, Telus, and Rogers has been preying on small carriers for a long time!

Petro Giannikos

F U Big Three!! bring Verzion!!

Alpine

BYE BYE ROGERS

letodax

This is ridiculous. Their desperation is beyond disgust like children crying because someone is going to take away the sand from their sandbox. Don’t be fooled by these corporations..they’ve already done it for decades. The big 3 need to grow up and compete.

Adam badzioch

Canadians pay the highest cellular bills in the world…. I am glad someone is opening the door for the trend to be towards more competition and not a cell phone company owner by canadas big three shyster cell phone companies!
They wine to the government when it is not in their favor of ripping of Canadians! When i travel the world how is it in other countries that a consumer can own 3-4 phones and pay a 10th of what most canadian consumers pay for one… I hope more true competition arrives and soon and not owned by the big three!

casual_confidence

BWAHAHAHAHA

H0ckster

My cell phone bill wonders what’s fair at all.

fairness

Fair…they want fairness! When have they ever shown any fairness towards Canadians. Instead they lied, stole and cheated Canadians in paying high prices. At the end of the day, it’s not even that Verizon will offer lower prices…it’s that there will finally be competition and they are not affiliated with the big three in any way. But the best part is watching the big three sweat it out and show fear of anther coming in. That is gratification…Welcome Verizon…bring these monsters to their knees!

Chrome262

not a fan of Walmart, so no clue, just mean they didn’t cry about it, they just did business as usual. Not sure what retail prices where like, but it was so far back they would have to be higher now wouldn’t they?

kEiThZ

I don’t know how old you are. But I certainly remember what retail was like when Walmart launched in Canada. Zellers had terrible selection and higher prices. The rest of Canadian retail consisted largely of much more expensive department stores, like Sears Canada. Walmart changed all that.

Target has not made as much of a dent, because Walmart already took a lot of wind out of retail prices in Canada.

And back then, I still recall all the folks predicting dire consequences for small town mom and pop shops and complaining about job losses in Canadian retail. A lot of the Big 3 propaganda today sounds strikingly similar.

Chrome262

I only have been here for the last 12 years so wasn’t around when it happened. but in those 12 years I have seen Canadian markets open up, and now the choices and ability to get a good deal have increased. Sure its not perfect, but its better. Now only if we could get the beer to be more opened up. Those prices are awful the differences between here and the US are huge, and even Alberta. Screw telecom and Banks, stop the monopoly with Beer lol

Chrome262

you would rather have some other foreign company, from Asia or Europe? We are competing with both unions. North American has trade agreements with its member nations, we are at economic war with the rest of the world and North American is losing, we need to keep it to an NA company, Maybe T-Mobile would be better but they don’t have the cash. Actually wish it was them.

thedosbox

“you would rather have some other foreign company, from Asia or Europe?”

You do know who owns half of Verizon right?

Chrome262

45% is not half. And the UK has better trade agreements with NA and Canada in particular.

thedosbox

Clearly there isn’t a Canadian company willing to jump in, so of course the capital needs to come from outside.

I’ll say it again for the slow minded – I’d prefer a company that looks after its customers over one that treats us worse than the incumbents.

Eric Yuen

To be fair, Canadian companies did want to jump in, Telus was trying to purchase Mobilicity, only the government blocked them

Elvin

I loathe harper conservatives, I bet they will yield to big 3 demands like they have usually done through the crtc.

qwerty_4321

Oh that comment made me laugh! I suppose you would prefer the Liberals (who are always ready to side with the NDP) or the NDP? Because they aren’t union driven .. nooooo .. they aren’t socialist at all (eye roll). At least Harper is the lesser of all the evils. The others are blatant socialists, At least Harper is still right leaning of those people.

Eric Yuen

The arrival of Verzion would not affect that trend short-term. It makes no sense why Verzion would lower their price right away when they are substained by the US they have no reason to rush and take over the Canadian market, In the long-term maybe we can see a bidding war, but when the market-share splits evenly with all four, Verzion will probably become just another one of the incumbent and match prices with everyone else. Verzion does not have a good reputation in the US either, more or less like AT&T. Money talks. What I would love to see is that, instead of these idoits wasting money on a campaign that really won’t affect anything, lower their prices to entice customers to stay with them and offer customers better deals when contracts are up so they have no reason to want to switch instead

Eric Yuen

Seriously, companies are wasting time and money making and working on this campaign, when what they should be doing is making the current customers happy and so people want to stay. Bell, Telus, Rogers, I wish you could understand that if you can make your customer happy then they won’t want to leave and Verzion coming into Canada would be a waste of time, the only reason you don’t want Verzion here is because you want to make more money. Greedy bastards

Eric Yuen

Exactly!

Eric Yuen

This is absurd. Fair for Canada? No ones gonna give 2 S**ts about this and you know why?? Because its BS. Yes some people understand that allowing verzion to come into canada isn’t a good thing as it means our economy is giving money to them instead of a Canadian company that would provide jobs and pump some money back into the economy. The reason no one cares is because the incumbents are so greedy that they are charging and treating the customers so poorly that we just don’t care anymore. People would rather lose out on improving the canadian economy just so they can shake things up. If you want to really make a difference stop wasting money on this campaign, and give customers better rates and treat them better. If a customer is happy they won’t want to leave simple as that.

kroms

” as it means our economy is giving money to them instead of a Canadian
company that would provide jobs and pump some money back into the
economy.”
Do you have proof of this ? I can’t remember ever within the last 5 yrs Where the BIG 3 create more jobs. The only time they create more Jobs is when the economy is on the up, but then this apply s to every business out there.
Also , Verizon coming in would just be another Carrier like everyone else and as such they would hire Canadians to man there Kiosks like the others do so there is NO Difference when it comes to that. There would be NO Loss on improving the economy , there is just plain silly or FUD that they would like you to believe.

Eric Yuen

Did you read the rest of my post or just the top part? Of course this means our money will be pumped out of Canada. Its basic Business. Look (i’m not trying to be rude but) If an american company sets up in Canada, yes they will need canadians to run their stores, but the money they generate goes back to Verzion which is US (UK owned as well) so other then the money it will cost them to run their operations, American and UK shareholders gets our money. Now this versus ROBELUS, yes they do employ outsourceing so that money is leaving the canadian economy as well, I understand that and I don’t agree with it either. But to say that no loss to our Economy would be false. At least the money goes back to Canadian hands (even if they don’t spend it in Canada) this versus profit going to Verzion which after you pay for all operations and marketing expenses goes into Verzions stockholders ( which probably aren’t canadian). So do you see how your argument makes no sense to me? However the upside is, i’d rather see that happen so that cell phone prices will go down. Lets be realistic, as much as the big 3 suck they are for the most part Canadian so the money they make is probably spent back in Canada (for the most part)

John

All I’m saying is what would be better for Canadians at an availability of service standpoint. At this point I’m not talking about price, or deceptive practices. I’d rather have a large block of 700mhz in the hands of a Canadian company who has existing infrastructure, has experience deploying in Canada, and understands Canadian needs. Compared to giving a large block to a US company with next to zero infrastructure or experience in Canada. That doesn’t make much sense to me. It would negatively affect the availability of LTE service to Canadians.

John

Slow the progress of widespread broadband in Canada, just to teach a company a lesson. Got it.

kroms

Funny how the BIG 3 are talking BS. If you listen to them then it would stand that WALMART should not have been allowed to enter Canada because it is Unfair to the other CANADIAN Grocers in this Country, right ? I mean it’s not like Walmart has created Jobs or created a more competitive playing field for Canadians is it ?
Im sure all those People employed at Walmart MUST be Americans right ?

What a bunch of BS. The CANADIAN GOV better NOT get involved here to help the BIG 3 as Steven Harper and the boys will basically kill any chance of them EVER being re-elected if they do that.
Canadians are Nice and polite. But we are not Stupid and don’t forget .

So VW is roughly 4X as profitable as the Big 3 Canadian wireless divisions. While AT&T Wireless is about 3.5X.

kEiThZ

Right. And VZ actually has more than 4X customers.

But I wasn’t talking about total profits. I was talking about margins. One would expect VZ to have 4X the profits with that many customers.

tiredofbeinggouged

The point is REALLY being missed here.
Canadians are SICK AND TIRED of being gouged in the pocket by the big
three GREEDY cellular companies. If you have a wireless device with
ANY of the big three, it’s the value of a CAR PAYMENT. Seriously!
WAKE UP! The whole point is that the big three have been grossly
overcharging and locking people into excruciatingly LONG contracts –
for YEARS. Something NEEDS to be done. It’s so far out of control,
that Canadians pay THREE TIMES the cost for their hand-held devices
over the course of the “sweet deal contracts” the big three
“offer” us. So, let me get this straight: the government
starts to deny them MORE monopoly and they want us to feel sorry for
them after what they have done to us? All these people in the video
are talking about THEIR company? Well I have news for you: it’s NOT
YOUR COMPANY! It never was. You just work for them and you’re STILL
being duped! For goodness sake, look around you! Ask YOUR friends,
the ones that do NOT work for the big three, if they like the amount
they pay for their cellular services. Come ON! There’s no
competition in Canadian wireless because the “big three”
squash it before it ever gets off the ground, using petty tactics
like THIS “Fair for Canada” video. Now that there is some
tiny little crumb of momentum for new wireless companies to start
giving Canadians the SERVICE they have long deserved, the “big
three” are whining about it and trying to trick us all AGAIN.
This has GOT TO STOP! I, for one, SUPPORT the idea that the big
three need to be STOPPED!

Mr. Everything

It isn’t enough that each of those big companies creates false front companies like Koodo or Fido? They’re not competing with each other, they are fake competing with themselves. Worst than that the fact that they can so quickly work together to create this campaign to fight competition means they’re all likely in collusion, fixing prices etc…

grantdude

The big 3 preaching fair. Haha. That’s like models preaching eating.

grantdude

Worst case scenario, Verizon comes in and becomes the 4th carrier with the same (or almost the same) prices and plans.

disqus_FqJrvM2zAR

Bring on Verizon… Kill Rogers, Bell and Telus so we get real monopoly…

disqus_FqJrvM2zAR

“Monopoly” is exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possiblethe manipulation of prices.
so when you put this word and 3 company name… you’re contradicting yourself. Yes, they do price fixing. but not monopoly. bring on Verizon, they got money to kill rogers, bell, telus and all the other players in canada… eventually you will be complaining about the “Big 1″ that’s Verizon. At that point feel free to use the word Monopoly. Like Walmart, McDonalds.

GAH05

You must work for one of the Big 3.

GAH05

Even Stephen Harper disagrees with you!

disqus_FqJrvM2zAR

1st, No I don’t work for a big 3. In fact, i’m a part of a new entrant.

2nd, Stephen Harper is not the smartest government we have in Canada.

Just wait. Verizon will come in (The most expensive cell phone carrier in USA). They will have money to kill off all carriers in Canada. At that point you will really know what is “Monopoly”. Canada been through this many time. Wal-Mart vs The Bay, Zellers, Sears, Eatons. We’ve also seen this with McDonalds. Gas stations, Air Transits, Blackberry and so on. So good for you that you support the Americans for coming in. Once you loose your job, make sure you celebrate harder alright? (Thats tomorrow, so buy your booze now and you can be on welfare) As for me, I don’t give a f**k because i’m not with the big three or any company that supplies service to them.

Please remember to read this thing in your “Mutiplier Effect” in your economy. but based on your education level you might want to buy one first. Look at Chrysler and Barrie, GM and Oshawa. Its not just the Big 3 going down.

GAH05

Yawn, really? Like it or not, it’s on its way. Conversation over.

Grassie

I guess if you are a Socialist Liberal/NDP you would think that way…Harper gave the Big Three Money….but stupid Canadians keep buying foreign cars…..and wonder why the big three have gone down the tube….
If you really want Canada to go down the tube….vote for trudeau..
he will destroy Canada within a year!

bamer

You’re so full of it.

Martin Deschambault

I would love for you to substantiate your comment about Justin Trudeau but that would require facts which conservatives don’t like to consider when formulating an argument. It’s funny how cons never mind socialism when it comes to funding the military or fire trucks and police forces, but as soon as you talk about programs that help Canadian families and provide support to the poor and homeless there seems to be a different tone. Our country is built on social democratic principles and they’ve made us the envy of the world. We aren’t in the top 3 places to live every year because we have oil or because we’re eliminating environmental protection. We’re great because of how we treat each other and for our dedication to a just society.

Grassie

First of all funding the military, fire departments, police departments, hospitals and emergency, paving and the up- keep of roads, sidewalks including snow removal etc, come under necessary services, they do not come under the socialist realm of things, everyone knows that.

A socialist is someone who believes that the government is the end all, they will take care of you, they are there to advise you, give you opportunities for employment, that they create jobs for you, that you work for the government, instead of the government working for the people, I believe that Trudeau like most liberals and NDP believe this as well.

-Justin Trudeau, as far as I am concerned is not qualified to be Prime Minister, experience wise, he has been an Member of Parliament for what…three years, before that he taught French in a school, what does he stand for, we aren’t sure….

-Trudeau doesn’t think that the genital mutilation of girls is Barbaric…this is a scary thought….

-Trudeau said Québecers are better then the rest of Canada

-Trudeau spoke at the ISNA, which has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

-Trudeau wants to legalize Marijuana, he just lacks judgement and experience.

-Trudeau doesn’t care that there is no system in place to test if someone is over the legal amount of marijuana if they are behind the wheel of an automobile.

-Trudeau was in Victoria BC, he was asked what did he think of The Nato Invasion of Libya with Depleted Uranium? He said it was “bad” the person asking the question asked him again and he could not respond with a answer…finally when asked again, he said I don’t know, I will have to look into it, he should have been honest and said in the beginning I don’t know I will have to look into it and get back to you.

-He doesn’t even know anything on Foreign Affairs, he is definitely unprepared for the job of Prime Minister.

I believe he is trying to run on his father’s name, because the Liberals are so desperate, they will accept anyone to try and regain the seats they lost.

Is he or are you aware …that over Forty Million Dollars went missing under the leadership of Mr Chrétien……….Mr Chrétien said well, some might have gone missing when we were trying to stabilize Québec….during the separation referendum …..some may have gotten lost…I want to know what Trudeau is going to do to repay that money, if he inherits the job of Liberal PM….we are STILL WAITING !

Is that enough facts? In answer to your comments, “Cons don’t answer with facts” that is a Lie and you know it, I think you are confusing Conservatives with Liberals.

Grassie

In addition…
We pay taxes to support people who need assistance, we give to United Way, Cancer, Heart, Kidney foundation and Cheo and Youth programs and many more programs, our churches have programs to help people in need, conservatives are generous people. The government is there to guide, regulate and secure borders, they are not there to give out handouts and make people dependent on them…they exist because of us and not the other way around.

Dan Truong

People please think about our track record so far with US corporations setting up shop here. For Example, the more recent Zellers to Target. Net lost jobs, same bs high prices. I’d bet the same thing is gonna happen here. I am not a hater of our neighbours but everywhere they go their corporations anyways screw the locals.

qwerty_4321

really? Job loss? I supposed they ship in people from the US to work in the Canadian Target stores? Zellers was going under and Target stepped in. Yes they trimmed the fat a bit but ALL jobs weren’t lost which is what would have happened.

Samantha Sinclair

Maybe if the big 3 hadn’t screwed us all over for years simply because we had no other options then we would feel sympathy for them. This will force them to be competive and match both their rates and better customer service. We have suffered for too long under the big 3 and its time to be treated fairly. We have higher cell phones rates than just about anywhere else. Finally rates that will work for us and not just have them clean out our wallets with hidden charges and in corrected errors

Garrett Cooper

But what if Verizon comes in maintaining their prices, and the BIG 3 increase theirs to match? You’ve gotta look at it both ways, and that wouldn’t surprise me at all.

davesousa

This video reaks of desperation and fear. This is insane. The government has been babying the big 3 for decades. Blocking smaller TeleComs from doing anything substantial in the industry. Now that there is disruption in the market, they are getting worried that the big 3 will become the big 4. Competition is good for any industry, it drives change. This is an amazing opportunity to change the landscape of the Canadian Telecom industry and the Big 3 should not be allowed to stop it.

abc123

The video would be more effective if it had the chorus of Justin Timberlake’s “Cry me a river” playing in the background.

Laura

Canada’s cell phone carriers NEED an overthrow! Canadians are getting some of the worst service on a global scale. Let’s let true capitalism come into play here and may the best man win so all the people can benefit!

netwolfdt

capitalism worked out so well for the rest of the world and the US…

qwerty_4321

Actually, capitalism has worked out well. What caused the last recession were actions of the democratic party in the United States. Clinton with Janet Reno forced banks to mortgage people of high risk else they face discrimination charges. Look it up, learn something. Now take a look at your socialist dream and how well it has done. Russia collapsed and what about France, Greece, Spain, Italy .. shall I go on? Learn to read something other than what the CBC writes and you may get a grip on what is really happening in the world.

netwolfdt

I willing to bet the we will not not see any saving here. All that will happen is they will is that they will just charge us the same price for the same service. They only difference is that they get a bigger profit margin and we have to talk to someone in India for service. Please count success stories where the Canadian consumers and jobs actually benefited from US corporations. Hint you can barely count them on one hand.

qwerty_4321

“we have to talk to someone in India for service” .. and how does this differ from what we already do? Have you tried calling Bell lately? Increased competition is always a good thing for the consumer. Clearly you have never taken an economics course in your life. p.s. You mention being able to count on one hand the benefits Canadians gets from merging allowing American competition into the country. Apparently you have done some research to provide such a statement so list those situations or STFU as it’s pure conjecture.

Ccd

If I were you, I would take a look at Verizon’s pricing. Our market now offers the same price as the US on 2 year terms, as requested. Verizon is not and will probably not be cheaper than Canadian companies. Plus, nobody’s against the giant coming. It just needs to be fair. They can’t have the same advantages as Wind, Mobilicity, etc.

They could swallow whole ROBELUS if they wanted. That’s how much money they have. Would that make you happy? One service provider??!

Oscar Wong

Verizon will swallow them if they’re too stupid to try to competet

qwerty_4321

Friends living in the US don’t even bother with land lines as wireless is cheaper. Free nation wide long distance and no coast to coast roaming charges are where Americans make their major savings. I can see why the big three here in Canada get a tad antsy at the thought of competition. Bring it on! When I see the only people complaining are union reps and employees it makes me want it even more.

qwerty_4321

don’t forget Americans get nationwide calls included and no roaming fees within the country. That’s HUGE

Xaxxus

regardless of what they do. More competition is good. If Verizon can scare the big three enough, we will start to see better plans here.

No way in hell should we be paying 140 a month for those new plans that have come to replace the 3 year contracts.

Phone prices should have gone up, not the plans.

Martini

Pretty sure you missed the point. If they’re outsourcing the most in-demand job, ie. customer care, then what jobs are they specifically “bringing back?”

Stephen

Fact and fiction
Bank of Nova Scotia this week weighed in with a new report that looks at the myths and facts surrounding the Verizon issue and the Canadian regulator’s new wireless code of conduct. Here’s what analyst Jeff Fann says, referring to Verizon Wireless as VZW:

Myth: Verizon’s entry would bring cheaper prices.

Fact: “VZW’s prices in the United States for data share plans are on par to 10 per cent more expensive than the new equivalent Canadian two-year shareable data plans … If VZ/VZW starts to gain meaningful subscriber share and one of the three Canadian incumbents decides to react by reducing prices to maintain share, perhaps that would help bring lower prices over time. However, this will likely take time and will not be the initial impact of VZ entering the market.”

Myth: Canadian regulators are succeeding in their quest for lower prices, more choice.

Fact: “By introducing the Wireless Code, the CRTC has caused carriers to raise monthly smartphone prices by 9%-19% over the past few weeks … and have caused the carriers to remove the three-year contract option. That’s right, while consumers are now free from three-year contracts they have to pay a higher monthly price to receive this so-called ‘benefit.’ Furthermore, there are fewer choices for consumers.”

Myth: The government wants four carriers in each region.

Fact: “The ‘old’ fourth operators are not going to get any help from Industry Canada. In the provinces of Quebec, Atlantic Canada, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, the current fourth operators are being disadvantaged by the current policies if VZ/VZW decides to enter these regions.”

Fact: “Even VZ does not believe the current Canadian wireless policy will bring sustainable competition … VZ is behind a report that suggests that preferential and discriminatory Canadian auction rules will not sustain long-term competition and some form of consolidation is inevitable in the future.”

no are you retarded? im not gonna lose money so some retarded lazy a*s like you can keep his job.

mola2alex

Well you don’t need to worry about me, I work for myself. You are just a douchebag and obviously uneducated

John Medica

No verizon! Canada will endup the next american country. Hell! NO!

infidean

To Telus/Rogers:

Boo F’n Hoo

Garth

“It’s all about choices, seems like “Rogers, Bell & Telus.” are some what worried about the piece of pie they will not get, bring on the competition, like in Europe this will make it fair cross country.

Increasing competition would be excellent, why the radio advertising “wining about the government being unfair, by letting more competition in the country”

This wining has back fired in those who are paying for it. We Canadians have been getting wrongly treated for all these years by the big guys, and now you want our support…………….forget it it too late.

I just hope soon that some foreign company will establish ground here, to make it fair for those who continue to pay outrageous prices for services such as TV, internet and phone,only because they live in the rural part of the country. The rural population do not get fair treatment, as those in the cities and high populated towns. its like most everything else, we are suppose to be one country, it should not matter where one lives in Canada, the price should be the same across the country for everything.

Grassie

“Verizon a greedy incumbent?”
Yeah like Bell hasn’t and isn’t Greedy! Bell was a monopoly for years.
BRING ON VERIZON!
Competition is Great For CANADA!

bamer

Consumers should just say screw you to the big 3 and not purchase any or their cellular products until they lower their prices. They would wise up pretty fast if they lost a large client base. Unfortunately people aren’t willing to do this and keep signing up or renewing their contracts for the latest greatest new phones.

A. Avanzado

The big 3 wanted to closed the loophole so they can continue ripping us off. Verizon a greedy incumbent? Wow.. I guess it takes one to know others.

A. Avanzado

I think the big 3 should rename their campaign called Fair for RoBelus.

Kenny G

There’s a campaign I never plan on joining. I want all the carriers from the States, Europe and China to come to Canada. Then we’ll have some real choice. It’s crazy that Bell, Telus and Rogers think they can dominate this part of the market without any real competition. The 3 of them should just combine themselves into one company and call themselves ‘ROC’ (Rip Off Canadiens).

gommer strike

OK we should have more Americans chime in here and simply answer one crucial question:

– Are you happy with Verizon?

If you are…tell us about it. Their rates, their quality of service – tell us *something*.

J-Ro

I think we wouldn’t get the answers we want to hear. Verizon is a power house of a carrier but as a premium brand, their prices would be pretty linear to what we already pay now.

Cristhian Mejia

But that would only affect those that choose to go with Verizon. For the rest it would be the advantage that comes from competition that this fourth player would bring to the industry.

thedosbox

“But that would only affect those that choose to go with Verizon. ”

You’re deluding yourself if you think the incumbents wouldn’t adopt the same anti-consumer practices once they saw people would accept them.

Whylie Cyote

BTW Verison is one of the several amerikan cell phone companies paid by the US government to hand over customer information without cause or warrant and continues to do so. TELUS, Bell and Rogers would never do that. Never!

That any Canadian would want to do business with such an unethical company who will spy on them is really astounding. That any Canadian prefers to support the amerikan economy rather than the Canadian economy is equally astounding. Making me wonder at the commitment to Canada many people living here really have.

And please stop with the “bring it on” with the idea they’ll save you money or bring jobs. How naive to think that. You get the service you pay for and the jobs will all be in Korea or Manila.

Chuck Mate

God how much I hate Rogers for creating its discount brand Chatter to kill Wind Mobile and Mobilicity. We need to start a Petition to counter attack the Big 3.

Kids in a 3rd World Country carry 2 cell phone and we can hardly afford a single one.

paul orr

I love Verizon , please destroy Bell and Rogers . As a Canadian nothing would make me more happier to see those 2 companies die

NM

Competition and choices are what is best for consumers. As in any market, you have a choice to buy what car you want to drive or what restaurant you want to eat in. If you don’t like Verizon entering the marketplace, no one is making you buy their product. I have never seen so much fear-mongering being instilled by the Telecom incumbents in my life!

Bryan Lo

If the government was willing to intervene to let Verizon into the Canadian market because they didn’t like what they were seeing with Bell, Rogers and Telus, then you can bet on them to prevent Verizon from swallowing everything up and forming a monopoly. As individual consumers, it’d be more effective to just take a side. And when you have a problem, just complain as loudly as you can. It’s what a government is for is it not?

Cynthia

Those 3 are a bunch of whiners and they think Canadians are gullible. They’re just afraid they won’t make their millions in profit.